Seeing Yourself As You`d Be On Tv

November 13, 1987|By Clarence Petersen.

Noel Holston of the Minneapolis Star Tribune recently wrote a column that began like this:

``The moment of truth. I have just taken psychiatrist Dr. Gregory G. Young`s 72-question quiz to determine my `Personality Style,` and I am about to learn the identities of my `TV Twins,` the television characters most like me.

Though I wondered what Holston could have in common with a black teenage girl on ``The Cosby Show`` whose costumes and hairstyles tend to the bizarre, I ordered a copy of Young`s book, ``Your TV Twins`` (Fawcett, $8.95).

Awaiting its arrival I wondered: Could my twin be Spenser of ``Spenser:

For Hire?`` Nah. For one thing, my haircut is too much like Hawk`s. Stuart Markowitz of ``L.A. Law``? That makes sense. We`re both short; we`re both smitten by Ann Kelsey.

But no. According to Young, my TV twin is . . . Denise Huxtable. By Young`s reckoning, Denise and Noel Holston and yours truly are all

``Idealistic Personality`` types. We`re not alone. Hawkeye Pierce of

``M+A+S+H`` is one of us. So is Sam Malone of ``Cheers.`` And Clair Huxtable, Denise`s mother.

Cool, logical and verbal, we all live by standards and ideals, by

``should`s`` and ``ought`s.`` We are independent and self-reliant. Correct. We`re not the type to rely on pop-psychology books.

But Young thinks TV Twin therapy works. Take the test, look up your twins and see yourself, or aspects of yourself, on TV as others see you in real life. Role models for adults? Young makes use of the technique in his practice.